Arthur Morrison (Jim Broadbent), and his
wife Kim (Juliet Stevenson), are doctors in the same medical
practice in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, England. They
have two children, Gillian (Claire Skinner), and her older
brother Blake (Colin Firth)Blake is a forty - year-old
established author, married with two children and confronted
with the fact that his father is terminally ill.
The film opens during a summer family trip in the late
1950s. Arthur hits the hard shoulder to skip a long queue of
traffic at a car racing event, and eight-year-old Blake and
the rest of the family, are overwhelmingly embarrassed. It’s
the first of many flashbacks that illustrate Arthur’s bluff
attitude to life and his pride in getting something for
nothing. These childhood episodes also introduce Beaty
(Sarah Lancashire) and her daughter, Josie. It soon becomes
clear that Beaty and Arthur are more than just friends and
that Josie is
potentially Arthur’s child. Adult Blake strives to find out
the truth about Josie, and in doing so uncovers the
interesting parameters of his father’s marriage.
The essence of this father and son relationship is further
explored through flashbacks to Blake’s teens – a family
holiday, a fumbled affair with the au pair – where the
awkward and introverted Blake is constantly crushed by his
father’s flirtatious ways and need to be the center of
attention. There are happy and tender
memories too; of Arthur teaching Blake to drive, a camping
trip in the rain, and Arthur saying goodbye to Blake as he
leaves for university. In the present it becomes clear that
Arthur still dominates his grown-up son, a dynamic to which
Blake is resigned, much to his wife Kathy’s (Gina McKee)
annoyance. When he and his family confront the reality of
Arthur’s cancer, Blake is forced to reconcile himself with
the past. Blake’s recollections are interspersed with
heart-rending and uncompromising scenes of Arthur’s decline
and submission to the disease that is killing him. It is
ironic that Arthur’s battle with his failing health is
paralleled by Blake’s struggle to come to terms with their
relationship, but there’s a human inevitability we can all
identify with. It is only after Arthur’s death; only when
the tears come, that Blake is finally able to make peace
with his memories.
© Sony Pictures Classics. All
rights reserved
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